Greig Leach

A rather pissed off Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) hit the bottom of the formidable Passo del Mortirolo without any teammates for support. Tinkoff Saxo had burned through the entire team chasing the Astana led escapees. The Maglia Rosa hit the climb a full minute down on Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa (Astana) and the pair seemed to be pulling away from the isolated Contador. However they had not taken into account the effects of anger and adrenaline. As I pointed out, it is considered bad form to attack the race leader when he has had a mechanical (or even a crash), so if Contador was able to catch the Astana duo, no quarter would be given. Try as they might, Benat Intxausti (Movistar), Simon Clarke (Orica GreenEdge) and Darwin Atapuma (BMC) were not able to hold the wheel of the possessed Contador.